1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates to an image-forming system comprising an image-forming device and a portable terminal, the portable terminal having an image-capturing part and a display part for displaying the results of image capture. The disclosure also relates to an image-forming device and a portable terminal.
2. Description of Related Art
For example, with image-forming devices and the like, there are cases in which a display part that employs a liquid crystal panel is provided so that the user can be informed of the state of the device such as the occurrence of an error. When a liquid crystal panel is used, text, symbols, graphics, or the like may be displayed in order for the user to be informed of the state. On the other hand, there are also cases in which, for example, a product is to be manufactured while minimizing cost in accordance with demands of the consumer, such as in new or developing countries. In order to reduce price by minimizing manufacturing costs even to a small degree, there are cases in which a plurality of LEDs are provided instead of a liquid crystal display in low-cost products, with the state being displayed using the LEDs.
However, manufacturing costs increase as the number of LEDs increases. Thus, LED turned-on/turned-off patterns have been devised in order to communicate a large variety of messages to the user while minimizing the number of LEDs that are installed. Technologies of the type described below have been known whereby a large variety of messages can be communicated using LED turned-on/turned-off patterns. Specifically, a communication device is known that comprises one display element for displaying device warnings, fault detection means for detecting faults according to classifications within the device itself, and a flashing drive control means for driving flashing of the display element using a flashing pattern whereby the number of flashes correlates to the classification of the fault that has been detected by the fault detection means. As a result of this configuration, the attempt is made to display warnings that relate to a number of types of faults.
For example, with image-forming devices that display states using only light-emitting elements such as LEDs without a liquid crystal panel, numerals or text are expressed according to the turned-on/turned-off pattern of a plural number of LEDs. For example, there are cases where error codes having a plural number of digits (e.g., four digits) are expressed by switching the turned-on/turned-off pattern a plural number of times. For example, when there are four LEDs, information can be transmitted as four bits (½ byte) by the turning on and off of the four LEDs one time. For example, when a LED turned-in/turned-off pattern is switched using four repetitions, messages such as two-byte-unit error codes can be displayed by switching the LED turned-on/turned-off pattern. Thus, with image-forming devices that display states using only light-emitting elements such as LEDs, numerals and the like can be expressed by switching the turned-on/turned-off pattern of the plural number of LEDs multiple times, and error information thus can be communicated.
However, the user must identify various turned-on/turned-off patterns of a plural number of LEDs, and interpret the message being relayed by the image-forming device by consulting a manual or other resource. At such a time, the user cannot always accurately interpret the turned-on/turned-off pattern of the LEDs. Consequently, there is the problem that it is difficult to use the device because the messages that are emitted from the image-forming device are difficult to accurately identify.
There are also image-forming devices in which information that represents the state of the image-forming device is transmitted to a computer (e.g., the computer of the user) that can communicate with the image-forming device. In this case, the state of the image-forming device can be identified without the turned-on/turned-off pattern of the LEDs having to be interpreted. However, in order to identify the state of the image-forming device, the user must move to the location of the computer. Problems with ease of use thus remain for the user, even though the state of the image-forming device is displayed on the computer.
With the conventional communication devices described above, a single display element is used, and fault classes are displayed based on flashing repetitions of the single display element. However, when there are a large number of fault classes (e.g., ten to several tens), an extremely large number of flashing repetitions of the display element are needed in order to communicate a single fault, and the operation of counting the large number of flashing repetitions becomes burdensome. In addition, the use of only a single display element is inappropriate for relaying detailed states. Consequently, there have been real practical problems with such communication devices, and it has not been possible to resolve problems related to user inconvenience and ease of use.